Are Your Meeting Working, for you and others?

Leverage Workshops to gain time, clarity and alignment and remove countless wasting meetings.

Meeting can suck. No agenda. No notes. No time banding. No outcome. And no alignment. If this is you, you are not alone and there is an alternative ... that works.

Not another workshop ...

I hope not. Workshops are often considered to be just another excuse for a training session. Someone stood up at the front with a powerpoint, or a whiteboard. This is NOT A WORKSHOP!

Workshops, as we define them, are interactive sessions, where all participant, well, participate. Where all voices are equal and heard. Where there is a structure, an agenda and most importantly, an outcome. They work best when the topic is significant, valuable and the outcome matters.

They are fast, effective, work well for teams, across departments and with users with different abilities or skillsets. They come to decisions fast and move on to lay out action plans.

Working Together Alone

The Hippo In The Room

A Hippo is the highest paid person in a room, with an opinion. Often the boss, leader, or owner.

All Voices Count

Not A Training Session, Or, A Meeting

Can you teach me to run my own workshops?

Absolutely.

We can tain you and your staff to run workshops and how to use Visuals to simplify communication.

We love to do this, as we recognise that spreading this skill within a business helps to cross polinate ideas and understanding across a business.

In fact, we encourage you to implement them when they are appropriate. No, they won't replace all meetings, but they will remove many. They will also improve understanding and alignment.

We can also run workshops for and with you. This let's you learn and co-facilitate at the same time. These sessions are best run 'in-person'.

CASE STUDY

Tech Company Board Members

Working with highly intelligent, highly paid individuals, who are experts in their field should be daunting and yet ...

You don't have to be a subject expert to come away with some amazing results.

Being an expert is not a pre-requisite to running a workshop in a specialist field, to experts, or to anyone else.

In fact, not knowing the answers, not suffereing from 'the curse of knowledge' can be the key to unlock communication, internally, or, with clients and prospects.

Keeping it simple, often through the use of visuals, means all attendees can participate equally and this improves contributions and results.

The more complex the scenario, the more metaphors, visuals and alternative presentation options become a valuable alternative to text.

Workshops leverage communication, ironically through the use of working together alone (in silence), to form bonds, alignment and a team approach that carries an idea through to fulfillment.

When To Choose A Workshop

(And Why To Add Visuals!)

Workshops work best when the topic and outcome matters

Don't replace all meetings with workshops and don't use them when the subject matter and outcome are not consequential.

(Instead, use a meeting, or better still, send an email!)

Workshops are for teams, groups, departments, etc. when:

  • An you need a new idea or product

  • You need team alignment, behind an idea, product, strategy or for a new approach

  • When there are multiple options and you need to move forward (fail fast)

  • When it is a complex, or controversial topic

  • When you want to listen to all the voices

There are 10 core workshop types, and yet 3 cover 80% of all workshops held.

Visuals aid understanding

80% more is recalled when visuals are used

Visuals can include text and numbers

Time boxing keeps meetings

on-track

Wrkshops gain rapid results

Workshops allow teams to communicate effectively

It is no good one person having all the answers 'in their head',

when others need to take action, or, make decisions.

WHICH WORKSHOP WILL WORK FOR YOU

THERE ARE 10 MAIN WORKSHOPS

And yet, 3 will work in 80% of cases, or a combination of these 3. All worshops follow a similar pattern, but use different levers to move forward, depending on the desired results.

CAN WORKSHOPPIG BE LEARNED

Yes, the core elements can be taught, but the nuances of facilitation can take a bit more time and require more practice.

You do not need to be an extrovert, a subject master, or expert, or, a leader. Quiet, thoughtful and calm thinkers can be just as effective and sometimes better.

Still not sure about workshops? Why not book a 20 minute on-line workshop and we'll run you through a quick and dirty workshop.

TESTIMONIAL

“TreVOR CONTINUES TO PROVIDE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE, WHEN IT IS MOST NEEDED”

Our business is fast moving, with many parts. Trevor immediately understood our situation and helps us to work better, make good use of our time and communicate effectively with all of our staff.

He is always available when we need him and always comes up with the goods.

Mark mandy

Salterns Marina

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